Day: December 30, 2007

It’s official — the Titans defeated the Colts’ backups 16-10, making them the Chargers’ opponent on Sunday for the opening round of the playoffs. Maybe the Chargers can be a little more decisive in their victory this time. :)

Well, 2007’s about 26 hours away from being a memory. On January 7 of this year, I made a spirited defense of my twin bed as it related to my overall Badassness Quotient. (If you are lost, you MUST read that post.) In defending the bed, I cited the lack of a need to expand the space because of the bed’s ability to hold up to the traffic demands placed upon it. I also made a 2007 projection of traffic based on numbers from 2006 and general trends.

How’d I do? Let’s let the actual 2007 numbers tell the story (day 365, while it has not technically happened, has been estimated):

In analyzing these traffic numbers (or lack thereof), I determined that trends that began to manifest themselves in 2006 continued strong through 2007. 2007 was also complicated with an ever-decreasing amount of time available for advertising availability and other items. (Frankly, I had other things on my mind.)

Traffic numbers, combined with an ever-higher Badassness Quotient (as evidenced by the graphic used as my Twitter background), indicate that the twin bed will serve at least half of 2008. With the anticipation of moving in mid-2008, however, there is a chance that the twin bed may actually be replaced by something larger in a proactive move, in the event the high Badassness Quotient should begin to attract traffic again. 2008’s theme is slated to be “Preparedness,” and it would be in line with this theme to upgrade mid-year…but you never know.

Today’s apparel: Flipflops, beach-oriented shorts, and my favorite Hawaiian shirt. Yes, I still know where all my cold-weather clothes are — The Thermals are ready and waiting in their hangar, prepared to deploy Wednesday for the deep freez(e) that is expected.

One game to go in the regular season, and it’s pretty important for the Chargers. While their seeding is set (they’re #3 by virtue of their defeating the Raiders today), it’s unclear who they’re going to see in their playoff game next weekend. Whoever they see won’t make it easy.

If the Titans beat the Colts tonight — a real possibility, as Indy has nothing to really play for in terms of seeding — then they travel to San Diego to see the Chargers. You might recall a few weeks ago the Chargers needed a furious comeback and a LaDainian Tomlinson score in overtime to escape the Titans. However, the Chargers of late have realigned themselves and began playing the kind of furious defense that they were known for last year. They’ve also started involving Tomlinson, the newly-crowned NFL rushing champ, in the offense again, something that utterly failed to happen in the first few weeks of the season. I think the Chargers can win this rematch, but it won’t be easy. Titans coach Jeff Fisher knows what it takes to get a team ready to drive far in the playoffs and to a Super Bowl.

The Chargers would need to really rely on their defense to come through if they end up getting the Browns — they’ve got a pretty furious offense. Derek Anderson has been surprisingly good this year (except in the would-have-been clincher against Cincinnati last week). Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow are both legitimate receiving threats, and Jamal Lewis is running the ball as well as he has in his career. Cleveland’s also given up 382 points this year, so their defense is suspect…that would be a pretty high-scoring affair, and I get the feeling with the way the Charger defense is playing, Derek Anderson would have some issues.